Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump is considering an executive order to protect gas-powered stoves and other appliances from regulations that threaten to phase them out, according to new Reuters report.
Gas stoves, used by approximately two out of five American homes, have become a strong controversy as the Biden administration has pursued efforts to end their usage.
“It speaks volumes when an order from the White House is needed to stop our own government from banning natural gas furnaces and water heaters,” Karen Harbert, president of the American Gas Association, an industry trade group, said in a statement.
“Despite the illegal efforts to ban access and use of natural gas, our industry is hard at work to keep life essential energy affordable and reliable especially during the extreme cold we are experiencing right now,” he added.
Trump mentioned also gas stoves during his Mar-a-Lago press conference on Tuesday.
“The heat is much better,” Trump said of gas-powered appliances. “It’s a much better heat. As the expression goes, you don’t itch.”
The Daily Caller noted that, “Approximately 75 million American households used natural gas to power at least one appliance as of 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Approximately 47 million U.S. households used gas for cooking purposes in 2020, an increase from 39 million households in 2015.
The Biden administration previously aimed to tighten industry regulations through the Department of Energy.
In 2023, the department proposed groundbreaking draft efficiency standards for gas stoves, which could have led to up to half of the models on the market failing to meet the new requirements. While the administration maintained that this would not amount to a ban on the appliance, Republicans criticized the proposal as an overreach.
By January 2024, the department significantly scaled back the rules, now impacting only 3 percent of gas stove models and 23 percent of electric stoves available in the market.
The new efficiency standards are scheduled to take effect in 2028, with projections indicating billions in savings for consumers and substantial reductions in carbon emissions. The Department of Energy previously estimated that the rule would lead to a decrease in emissions by approximately 4 million metric tons over the same period.
